Razor and magazine combination



July 24, 1951 J. MUR OS RAZOR ANDHMAGAZINE COMBINATION Filed Dec. 11, 1947 Patented July 24, 1951 UNITED RAZOR AND MAGAZINE; col I n'ri rlilCliff Y]. I

Joseph Muros, Newtonville Mass., a ssigno'r to: I GilletterSafety Razor (1ompany,.Boston,.Mass I acorporation of.Massachu se tts- Appiicaticn' December 11, 1947'; strain-o; E9395 to aim st (o1. ac -40) j 1i This invention comprises a novel safety razor and blade magazine combination and includes within its scope anovel process of transferring longitudinally slotted blades from a magazine-- enclosed stack to a safety razor having bladelbcating projections; 7 It' isextremely desirable tq-transferfresh sharprazor blades from the 'package or magazineiir which they have been packfed'by' the manufactur er and distributed tothe customer without im pairing the keennes's' of theshaving edge of the blades by contact wi'th a wrapperor'other object; The shaving edge of a safety razorwhich has been brought to ahighdegree of keenne'ss by the manufacturer isvery fragileand its shaving" qualities are seriously-f impaired by the slightest contact; It is difiicult for" the user to unwrap a blade" of this kind without drawing its edge across the paper of the wrapper or envelope or contacting it with some part:- of" the razor in presenting the bladethereto': The object ofthe present invention is to in sure the transfer of one blade at a time,- as? required by the user, from" amagazine in which the blades have-'beenpack'ed"and' aresafely maintained, and direct it to the blade seat of the" safety razor without] the necessity and without liability of accidentalcontactof 'theshaVing edge or edges of the blade: My'invention is herein illustratedin connection with a safety razor" of the" type disclosed in my U. S. Letters Patent No: 2,009,272," dated'J'uly 28, 1 935,- and a blade? magazine of the" typedisclosed inco -pending application Serial No; 371723 filed July 8; 1948, which application is a continuation of Serial No; 758925 filed June 30;] 1947" and now abandoned;

although the invention" not limited to safety razors and magazines of'tliis -or anyother specific type but of general application: In the illus trated form, however; the-safetyrazbris provided"- with' a blade-locating bar shaped to" receive the slot" of a longitudinally slotted razor blade and" this bar for the purposes of the present inven tion' is provided with" ahookportion: The-maga zine employed in association therewith cdntains'" a: stack" ofunwrapped blades which" are arranged to'be partially e'j'ectedi oneby one; by traction. of" the user's thumb upon the flat" surface" of? the-uppermost 'bladeinthe' stack; Inione aspect; I the. process of m invention. ischaracterized by the" steps of" partially ejecting, a blade. from themagazine by surface. engagement untilQon end; of'it's slot is exposed: tlien' engaging" the. hook,

otthe locating bar in theexposedend of the ae.

I the magazine by a separating movement of the magazine and razor and allowing the-blade to settle itself upon the-blade seat of the razor-i being correctly positioned by the blade-locating bar; 'It will be observed that in carrying out'th-is process the only contact withthe blade is that required for the partial ejection thereof an that this-is effected by contact only with the 'fiat'face of-the blade while its shaving edges are safely" concealed and protected. Complete removal of the blade from the magazine is effected by eng-ag ement of a razor part with an internal edge of the blade, and here again in this stage of the transferring process there is no danger of con tactwith the shaving edge of the blade and noreason for such contact. 0n the contrary, the" entire: transferring process is carried out by engaging the surface and internal edges ofthe bladein areas or at locations remote from-its cutting edges; Preferably and as herein shown; the safety razor may be equipped with a hook shaped element designed for convenient and secure engagement with the partially ejected blade; and the magazine may be provided with guiding means-- which insure or assist in locatingthe'r'nagazine in the safety razor in the most advantageous relation for effecting the transfer" of a blade from one'to the other. I

' These and other features of the inventionwilP be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred manner "of carrying out the process of the present invention as-illu'strated inthe accompanying drawings; inwhich' Fig. l is a view in perspective showing a magazine and safety razor assembly with a blade partially ejected from v the magazine and engaged b'y-the'razor;'

Fig. 2 is'a corresponding view showing the reference may be had for further details of its ccnstruction. It comprises a handle l0 carrying v a s'iubstantially flat guard member which provides" tliefbladeseat' of. the safety razor. Rising} through. a slot in thebl'ade seat is the elongated;

blade-locating bar I2, this being carried by a L longitudinally, movable spindle. l3 havinga tapera my d in Pli' iiiflql llh; merrier gd. s own aE a Tlj b r... s.

provided at each end with an overhanging shoulder 24 giving it a hooked formation. Preferably and as herein shown the hooked formation is effected by an indentation in the end wall of the bar [2, the upper edge or wall of the indentation being comparatively short and extending inwardly, and the lower edge or wall comparatively long and gradually inclined outwardly, thus providing a guide edge or surface for directing the blade downwardly into position on the blade support or seat. The cap of the razor comprises sections l4 and i5 pivotally mounted on a spider 23 which is carried by and moved by means of the spindle I3. In Figs. 1 and 2, the cap sections I4 and 15 are shown in their open position and it will be understood that after a blade has been positioned upon the blade seat the cap sections are closed and the blade transversely flexed and held in shaving position.

The blade magazine I6 is rectangular in outline and provided with a thumb opening I! in its upper wall and a blade-exit opening H3 in each of its end walls. As supplied to the user, it contains a stack of ten or twenty thin, flexible doubleedged blades 2| having an elongated median slot 22 and unsharpened end portions of reduced width as compared to the body of the blade. These blades are maintained in staggered relation within the magazine and may be ejected, one by one, through the blade exit slot 18 by traction exerted on the upper surface of the uppermost blade in the stack by the finger or thumb of the user. The blade stack is maintained in the magazine with the shaving edges of the blade carefully spaced from the walls of the magazine by an upstanding rim 25 of substantially the same narrow width as the blade-locating, and in its ejecting movement each blade is safely guided by engagement of its slot with the rib Z5 and also by a centrally disposed rib l9 projecting downwardly from the upper wall of the magazine. The outer end of this rib is shown in Fig. 3. The rib l9 at the exit slot, the rib 25 within the magazine,

and the blade-locating bar l2 of the razor are all of substantially the same width, that is to say, they are designed to receive with slight clearance the median slot 22 of the blades being handled.

The magazine is provided with external guiding means herein shown as a groove 20, shaped to receive the upper edge of the blade-locating bar l2 and to center the magazine thereon. It will be apparent that any cooperating guiding elements provided respectively in the safety razor and the magazine would be satisfactory for effecting this purpose.

In carrying out the process of transferring a blade from the magazine to the razor, the user first partially ejects the uppermost blade from those contained in the magazine by surface engagement exerted through the opening ll as suggested in Fig. 1. In this movement, the blade is guided by the internal rib 25 of the magazine and the guide rib I!) at the exit slot. The magazine is then presented to the open razor and registered in the proper transverse position by engaging the groove 20 of the magazine with the top edge of the bar 12, at the same time hooking the end of the bar through the slot of the blade, all as suggested in Fig. 1. In these preliminary steps, the engagement of the groove 20 with the bar [2 aligns the blade-locating guiding ribs 25 and IQ of the magazine with the blade-locating bar 20 of the razor. The user now draws the magazine and razor apart, moving them from the position shown in Fig. 1 to some such position as that shown in Fig. 2. In this separating movement from the cutting edges of the blade.

4 the blade is fully Withdrawn from the magazine and as soon as it is freed therefrom it passes freely over the bar [2 and settles itself in position upon the blade seat I l, where it may be immediately clamped and retained in shaving position.

It will be observed in carrying out the process above outlined, the user engages only the fiat surface of the-blade in the magazine and it is impossible for him to contact the sharp edges of the blade. Similarly, when the ejecting force is transferred to therazor the engagement of the blade is through the medium of an internal edge provided by the blade slot 22 in a location remote The result is that the blade is controlled positively throughout its ejecting movement so that its shaving edges are carefully prevented from accidental contact and that it is delivered in final shaving position in intact condition. .I-Iaving thus disclosed my invention and-describedin detail the preferred manner of carry; ing out my novel.- pr ooess, l claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent: 7

.1. For use in transferring. a longitudinally-. slotted double-edge blade into itsproper position, in the opened head of a unitary razor having an elongated blade-locatingbar receivable in the slot of said blade and wherein the bar has a notch therein on at least one end thereof, a generally, rectangular. container; adapted to receive therein the said blade and havinglan end exit opening, means permitting said blade to be partiallyejected through said exit opening, an end por: tion of said container having a guide-groove on its underside arrangedto receive the'ride along the ridge of said blade-locating bar while the container is disposedatan angle to said blade-locating bar. a l

2. In a safety razor foruse with an insertable, centrally slotted blade, .a support for the blade, a positioning bar associated with said support and adaptable to engage the slot of the blade, at least one end of thepositioning bar being formed with. a notchfor engagement with a terminus of the: slot during insertion of the blade into the razor,, said notch compr'ising an indentation the upper wall of which is comparatively'short and extends inward and the lower wall is comparatively long and gradually inclined outwardly to provide; a guide for the blade toward the support sure rounding said bar, and means for thereafter fixedly positioning said blade on said support,

3. In a safety razor for use with an insertable centrally slotted blade, a support for the blade, a positioning bar associated with said support and adapted to be vpositioned between the: end walls of the blade slot when the blade is in posi-. tion for use, said bar having on at least one of its ends means for facilitating rapid and accu-. rate insertion of .a blade ontosaid support from. a blade magazine, said means comprising a notch arranged with its..deepest portion adjacent the, top of said bar and an inclined guide wall leading outwardly from such deepest portion of the notchv toward the bottom'of said bar, whereby an end wall of the slot of a blade partially projected rmmj the magazine is engaged by said notch to hold the blade until it ,is'comple'telyreleased from the magazine, the released 'blade then falling. by

gravity into position on said support under guid-j ance of said inclined wall, and means for thereafter clamping said positioned blade. onto said" support.

the blade, and a positioning bar associated with said support and adaptable to engage the slot of the blade, at least one end of the positioning bar being formed with a notch for engagement with a terminu of the slot during insertion of the blade into the razor, said notch comprising an indentation the upper wall of which is comparatively short and extends inward and the lower wall is comparatively long and gradually inclined outwardly to provide a guide for the blade toward the support surrounding said bar, a magazine havin a blade-locating rib of substantially the same width as said razor bar, a blade exit slot at one end and a finger opening in its top wall, and a stack of unwrapped blades in the magazine having central slot receiving the blade-locating rib of the magazine and each bein movable by surface engagement for partial ejection through the exit slot and being thereupon exposed for engagement by the bar of the razor as aforesaid, whereby the blades may be individually transferred from the magazine onto the support in the razor.

5. A safety razor for use with an insertable centrally slotted blade including a support for the blade, and a positioning bar associated with said support and adaptable to engage the slot of the blade, at least one end of the positioning bar being formed with a notch for engagement with a terminus of the slot during insertion of the blade into the razor, said notch comprisin an indentation the upper wall of which is comparatively short and extends inward and the lower wall is comparatively long and gradually inclined outwardly to provide a guide for the blade toward the support surrounding said bar, and a magazine containing such slotted blades and having an exit slot at one end and a groove inits bottom shaped to engage the bar of the razor for maintaining alignment of the razor and magazine during blade transfer.

6. A safety razor for use with an insertable centrally slotted blade including a support for the blade, and a positioning bar associated with said support and engageable with the slot of the blade, at least one end of the positioning bar having a notch arranged with its deepest portion adjacent the top of said bar for engagement with a terminus of the slot during insertion of the blade into the razor, and a blade magazine adapted to contain a stack of such slotted bare blades and operable in conjunction with said razor to transfer the contained blades singly from the magazine onto the support in the razor, said magazine including a casing having an end bladeexit opening, a blade-locating rib inside said casing shaped to fit in the longitudinal slots of said blades and guide them during at least part of their discharge movement, the casing including a thumb-receiving opening overlying the blade stack location and extending in the direction of the blade-exit opening and being of sufiicient length in said direction to permit the uppermost contained blade to be slid forwardly directly by the users thumb, in a single stroke, by an amount sufiicient to shift the leading terminus of the blade slot outwardly of said casing and expos it for direct engagement with the notch in the positionin bar of the razor, whereby the thus partially-advanced engaged blade may thereafter be pulled completely out of the magazine casing by separational movement of the magazine with respect to the razor, causing the extracted blade to settle. down over the positioning bar and onto the support in the razor without further manipulation of the blade.

7. A safety razor for use with an insertable centrally slotted blade including a support for the blade, and a positioning bar associated with said support and engageable with the slot of the blade, at least one end of the positioning bar having a notch arranged with its deepest portion adjacent the top of said bar for engagement with a terminus of the slot during insertion of the blade into the razor, and a blad magazine adapted to contain a stack of such slotted bare blades and operable in conjunction with said razor to transfer the contained blades singly thereinto, said magazine including means permitting the partial ejection of one'of said blades sufficiently to expose the terminus of the blade slot beyond the magazine end for coupling with the notch in the positioning bar of the razor, said magazine being-so constructed and arranged as to permit the presentation of the partially ejected blade at an acute angle with respect to said positioning bar during the coupling of the two, whereby subsequentseparational movement of the magazine with respect toth razor extracts the angularly related blade completely from the magazine and free it to settle itself down over the positioning bar and onto the support in the razor.

JOSEPH MUROS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,092,067 Marx Mar. 31, 1914 1,911,627 Lasher May 30, 1933 2,009,272 Muros July 23, 1935 2,200,530 Benjamin May 14, 1940 2,301,172 Benjamin Nov. 10, 1942 2,363,608 Muros Nov. 28, 1944 

